The outgoing administration of the current President of the United States Joe Biden will be remembered in history as intrusive and offering help where it is unnecessary. This statement was made by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.
“What will the Biden administration be remembered for in history? For many things, but among them is its intrusiveness. ‘We want to help you’ — and we say: ‘Thank you, but no’ — ‘No, we want to.’ They have this structure, USAID (United States Agency for International Development) — Ed. note, which wants to help. But for some reason, they want to help not where we need it,” he said in an interview with “RIA Novosti.”
Aliyev admitted that with the election of the new President of the United States Donald Trump, the activities of USAID might come to an end. He noted that Russia's decision to refuse assistance from the agency was a correct one.
As reported by IA Regnum, on December 11, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken urged the authorities in Azerbaijan to cease repression against the media and civil society. The head of the State Department suggested releasing the activist Rufat Safarov, who was detained for hooliganism and fraud, along with the staff of the opposition internet channel Meydan TV, who are accused of smuggling.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry strongly condemned and rejected Blinken's statement. It was labeled as biased and distorting the situation regarding the protection of human rights and freedoms in Azerbaijan. The spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic Aykhan Gadjizade pointed out the double standards in Blinken's position when assessing the human rights situation in Azerbaijan. According to Gadjizade, such a stance from the head of the State Department “has led to a paralysis of U.S. policy in the South Caucasus as a whole.”